'Plonker' Olly Murs apologises for elimination gaffe

Olly Murs has called himself a plonker and apologised for a major gaffe during the live 'X Factor' eliminations on Sunday (15.11.15).

After mistakenly counting the votes from the four judges, Olly told contestant Monica Michael she had been eliminated, instead of taking the competition to deadlock.

He then had to awkwardly stand by as his prediction came through when it was revealed that Monica had received less public votes than her sing-off competitor Anton Stephans.

Olly took to Twitter after the show to apologise, writing: "I apologise to everyone tonight I made a massive f%#k up at the end. It was so tense!! I'm still learning & hope that never happens again! (sic)."

And he received some support from Dermot O'Leary, who Olly and his co-presenter Caroline Flack replaced on the show.

A grateful Olly replied: "@radioleary cheers Derm!! Beating myself up about it mate! What a plonker! (sic)"

Meanwhile, Olly wasn't the only person who had to issue an apology as Monica's reaction to being voted off left viewers disgusted.

The singer - who changed her song from '(Bang Bang) My Baby Shot Me Down' by Nancy Sinatra to 'What is Love' by V Bozeman at the last minute due to the Paris attacks on Friday (13.11.15) - shocked viewers by shouting, "Class of 2015 X Factor, bang!" after being eliminated.

She apologised on Twitter after being criticised for her insensitive words and said: "I want to apologise for any offence caused on the @TheXFactor tonight. I wasn't thinking beyond the moment & it was insensitive, sorry (sic)."